November 24, 2003

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US-backed Iraqi Council threatens to imprison journalistsBAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) One of the Middle East's biggest television news networks agreed Monday to halt reports from Iraq after the U.S.-appointed government raided its offices, banned its broadcasts and threatened to imprison journalists.

The Paris-based media watchdog group, Reporters Without Borders, immediately denounced the action of the Governing Council. It called the closure a violation of freedom of the press and said it represented ''methods ... that are contrary to the promises of setting up a democracy in Iraq.''